Frum.Finance

Anyone have ideas for helping us grow our lakewood presence? Spreading free financial literacy!

Reach out to the Voice of Lakewood and see if they want a new financial column now that Eli Fried stopped writing for them?

That is a good idea! Anyone have any contacts?

Have someone hang up a sign in the BMG coffee room

To spread awareness that such a service exists (especially to those who aren't online/on social media), go for traditional advertising in the free circulars, like BP Weekly or the Voice. Or even a one-liner with a phone number in the "services" footers on the pages of Masa Umatan (that's the free weekly listing of apartment &amp; house rentals, plus other listings like cars and babysitting). If you want to target the more yeshivish circles, see if you can get a feature or article into Chayeinu about it. People actually do look at all these papers...

Hey :wave: , good morning!

Any recommendations for a good accountant?

I need someone who is familiar with
• NY &amp; NJ tax law
• RSU grants in NY &amp; I moved to NJ
• Unemployment benefits from NJ
• K1s
• Stock trading &amp; options trading
• and general standard stuff like 1099s, W2s
(I've been doing my own taxes, but this past year has been a bit of a ride &amp; I think it's time I get professional help)
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<@U04HK0T8JQM> I like my accountant Yosef Elharrar <tel:+1(973)338-2320|+1 (973) 338-2320>. Tell him I sent you.

Thanks! Does he have experience with stock grants that where received in NY?

I’m not sure but he’s great with almost everything else you put. I don’t know what K1s are. It could be worth a call to see if he can help :man-shrugging:  

We started using <https://hernandezaccounting.com/> after running into questions about NY/NJ tax laws & RSUs. At that point I was officially a NY employee even though I live in NJ. Some of my coworkers at amazon recommended him for the same reason. Heading into our 2nd tax year using them, very happy so far. They used to be based out of NYC but moved to Florida a few years ago, so most of their clients are still NY & NJ clients.

Does anyone know of any rebates or programs in NJ for homeowners/first time homebuyers to help with house improvements and/or utility costs? I know that PSEG has an income restriction program for some energy savings products. This would be for middle range income family but living in what’s probably a low income area.
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We B"H got a bunch of lakewood submissions for our surveys but I still would need more in order to publish. Especially the household budget I think would be very interesting to publish! Let's get this filled out :muscle: <https://frum.finance/survey/>

Do you need more responses from other places in New Jersey?

absolutely, but right now lakewood is the closest to being able to publish, but if you get friends from wherever you are from to all answer it then we can probably publish where you are from also!

And one in Lakewood, unless he left in the past 7 years

I can give you the ones from Passaic if you'd like - no idea if they'll travel

I heard that New Jersey and California lack one of the tax advantages of an HSA that other states have. I can't figure out which benefit. Which one is it?

Has anyone opened a 529 to funnel tuition payment through for a tax break?

<@U04HDQKGQ1J> has! <https://frumfinance.slack.com/archives/C04G41ZD725/p1676500363529179>

Best cholov yisroel cheesecake in NJ? I tried to order from <https://lilacandcreme.com/> but they are sold out.

right that is what I posted in my original post, they are sold out.

Theres a pop up say on Sunday, June 1st (erev Shavuos) on their store 

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I filed 2024 taxes with FreeTaxUSA back in march and still didn’t get the state refund, anybody experience the same?

Which state?

For NJ you can go to <https://www.NJ.gov/treasury/taxation/checkrefundstatus.shtml|https://www.NJ.gov/treasury/taxation/checkrefundstatus.shtml> to check the status of your refund

This is actually the link 
<https://www16.state.nj.us/TYTR_TGI_INQ/jsp/prompt.jsp|https://www16.state.nj.us/TYTR_TGI_INQ/jsp/prompt.jsp>

I keep on checking, and it stays in processing….

We are going through this as well.  My husband had to schedule an appointment using their site.  You have to keep refreshing because appointments aren’t always available.

On a side note, NJ also has websites that go home/take a break from work on the weekend :disappointed:

On which website did he schedule an appointment, freeusa or states website?

NJ State website.  They don’t always have an appointment available so you may have to check back a few times.

It would be the same link that said your refund is processing, the one you can only see after you enter your personal info.

I can ask my husband again later, but that is where he saw it.

Do you see the option?  My husband said they don’t have a lot of free slots so you may have to keep refreshing

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question - someone is trying to sell me on the ThinkEnergy Autosave program in NJ. Officially, this program is supposed to offer potentially lower energy rates than the current provider. Everything I've heard about this or seen online indicates it is some sort of scam or something though I'm not sure what the scam is. I was wondering if anyone else knows anything about this program.

seems like it just launched. I do not think anyone could have real experience with it.

I don’t understand how any of these programs can offer lower rates because they would still have to purchase and resell from the major electric providers, no?

I spent a while with the salesman trying to get an answer to this very question with no luck. The only possibility is that they have a way of getting a better rate for off-peak hours. PSEG doesn't offer the possibility of varied rates for peak and off-peak hours (something that I think is offered in other locations?). However, if the salesman couldn't explain it and instead got upset at me for not understanding his pitch, I am staying away

I think the real pitch with some of these programs is they estimate your usage and try to make your bills even over the months (estimated usage/12)

So instead of paying more during the winter you pay the same amount spread out over the months.  But PSEG has something similar already.

There are two parts to each electric bill, generation and delivery. Delivery will always be charged by the utility, but you don't need to have it generated by the utility.

The Autosave program seems to be saying, when we can generate electricity cheaper than the utility we will and charge you our price, but if we can't we will use generated electricity from the utility since that's the better price.

Makes sense.  I really doubt their ability to generate electricity cheaper than the big NJ providers though.

They could be. They don't need to be as reliable as the utilities do so they can opt for cheaper, but less reliable, alternatives. They rely on the utility for the reliability if they can't produce enough.